Well, Archie's war wound is healing nicely and I'm no longer having to carry trays up to him in bed. I'm wondering though if he's suffering from a bit of concussion . Whenever I say 'lets write our blog' he takes off for the cat litter tray in the bathroom and I find a log in the bog. Maybe blog is cat speak for…well never mind. Where's the air freshener? I wasn't too happy with the cover for my book 'Midgie MacAlpin and the stone of Destiny' The selection of images available with Createspace is a bit limited especially for a book cover for children and young adults. So, I decided to design my own. This meant teaching myself photoshop and spending most of the last week cross-eyed as I fought with tracking and kerning text. I'm quite pleased with the result above, but I just know that as soon as it goes back up on sale, I'm going to spot a great glaring mistake. Oh dear just spotted one. There's a little blob of white on the bottom left hand corner. Too late now. Then there has been 'Scotland's Hidden Harlots and Heroine's to think about now that Pen and Sword have given me a definite launch date of 1st March. I've been taking a serious look at the questions I brought up in my last blog. After looking at the advice of writing and marketing experts, it appears writers nowadays also have to have 'media training' be able to write good press releases as well as be polished public speakers. I think you're going to see quite a bit of swearing in the next few blogs as I get everything wrong. Well, time to get up and put the porridge on and start the day, for the only way to get ahead - is to get started.

Well, its all over, the new year is beginning to get old and it's back to work on the quest to find the secret of writing a great novel. This plan has met with a slight setback though. Yesterday morning, around 6am, Archie, one of my cats became involved in a fight. Well, actually, he started it. Archie is very territorial over his hunting grounds, my neighbour's garden, the wynd, and the car-park. This I've never understood because the only place Archie ever hunts is in the cat food cupboard. Anyway, there's a new kid on the block, a ginger and white marauding man cat with no name. My boy's not happy with this swaggering stranger who seems to have a huge sense of entitlement. It seems the ginger and white mafia are trying to take over the car- park and yesterday morning the dispute developed into blows. My other cat Cuillin ran away shouting 'it wisnae me' when he saw me 'hinging out the windae' screaming at the two duelists, who were sitting on chip wrappers staring each other out. This does make a change from me chasing Archie up the High Street in my pyjamas though. Some two hours later, my wounded hero came limping through the vennel dragging his sore leg behind him. After a few hours of sulking and me attending to the bite on his leg, I put Archie to bed and have been taking his meals up to him. He's a little better today. In the meantime, I've finished the author's questionaire for 'Scotland's Hidden Harlots and Heroines' and I thought that after supplying the head of Pen and Sword's marketing department with the names of half of Scotland's press that might be the end of my involvement. I've just been reading a book on marketing though, and it says I might face some difficult questions from a publicist. For example, What do you look like? Would a photograph of you make journalists sit up and notice? - Oh aye, more than that, they'd come running - right past me. Can you talk as well as write? - Well, I think the talking bit came first. Where do you live and what do your neighbours think of you? - Lets get this book out before we think about writing another. From the amount of kisses and cuddles I'm getting, it's a fair guess Archie is ready for his tea. I'd better away to the kitchen and prepare his tray -after all the only way to get ahead is to get started.

Author

When I was small I asked for a toy typewriter for Christmas. I wanted to be either a writer or a civil servant. Santa came and went and it was with great excitement I rushed to the tree to discover he'd left me - a pram and a doll that wet itself. It didn't take me long to realize that I didn't have what it takes to become a civil servant and many more years to realize part of my dream - becoming a published writer and author. Becoming the writer I want to be may take a while longer. With self publishing as well as traditional publishing widely available these days, it's far easier for writers starting out to cut their teeth. So, if writing for a living is your dream then make your motto -'PUBLISH AND BE DAMNED'